Inaugural entry

I've been known to ramble quite a bit. Most of it tends to be in front of the microphone when I'm trying to fill the time by talking to the crowd between songs, or just general bantering, so I should be pretty good at blogging. I also have several other examples I try to pay attention to, (Janice Williams' and Duggan Flanakin's) are two great ones.) for guidance.

I hear it's a really great way to promote and publicize your inner most thoughts to perfect strangers, but, again, I'm so much better at it when I'm in front of an audience or trying to write a song. I really get on an adrenaline high when I'm really connecting with my crowd. And, most of the time if you've spoken to me, it's almost as if it's two different people. Case in point, the CD release party on November 28th at Hill's Cafe. Now THAT was an amazing night. I could blog the hell out of every last memory I have in amazing detail from that night because it was an incredibly validating experience.

This album was something that my friend and producer Stephen Doster and I had been working on since April of 2006. It came together in such a way that, if I never made another album, I could die a happy man. The names on there are people whom I've looked up to for so long, that to have them on my first 'official' album is already a career-high. I can blog about the studio sessions another time, but for now this is a rewind to the CD release party. I was very glad to see so many people there, but even more so when I saw some of the more recognizable faces, which belonged to many of my good friends. I also realize how busy many of them are, so to take time to come out and support me for the CD release was humbling.

My band is great - they all knew how important this show was, so we all had our 'A' game that night. Especially since we all knew that Dale Watson, who appeared on the album singing with me on the song of his that I covered, "Hair of The Dog". Dale's being there was a great "feather in the cap" for the night, and was certainly the highlight of the evening when he got up on stage with us to sing "Hair". He's been very kind to me this year, but again, that's another time. Others in attendance to help me celebrate were Janice Williams, Greg Roberts, Cash Edwards, along with my good friends Angela-Marie Lampton , Lucas Cook, Bill Rice, Cheri Fox, John Scott from KVET, John Michael Whitby (who is probably getting ready for his show right now with King George at the Erwin Center Thursday, and also appeared on the album), along with David Sanger and Elizabeth McQueen from Asleep at The Wheel, who lent their talents as well. Even more importantly though, my parents made it out to the show, and they love coming to my shows when they can, but it's hard for them to get out late sometimes after dark.

The whole night was magical, and to top it off, my last great memory was getting a standing ovation from the very large crowd, most of whom stayed for the whole show. That show has, since, been very hard to top but we've come pretty close a few times, and they're only getting better. Sure hope to see you out at one of the several we have coming up...

I have to run for now, though.. We're headed down play a bunch of shows in Rockport this week, and I need to finish up some laundry. :) I'm also enjoying a well-deserved LSU team beat up on Ohio State!

One last thing - please be patient with me as I learn how to become a better blogger. I'm a narrative writer by trade, and a musician, which almost always means a very short attention span... Hell, it took me almost 2 hours just to write this entry! Should get interesting...